By Guy Page

A leader of the Senate Democrat caucus and longtime climate hawk has proposed legislation that would likely increase the price of gasoline and diesel fuels.

New legislation (S.171) sponsored by Assistant Majority Leader Rebecca White (D-Windsor), would create a Clean Fuels Program aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transportation fuels. 

While it doesn’t directly impose a tax or fee, it would raise money indirectly through a credit and trading system—similar to cap-and-trade models in other jurisdictions, energy policy expert Matt Cota said in his January 12 edition of The Intersection, a newsletter published by Meadow Hill Media, Cota’s policy advocacy firm. Gasoline and diesel suppliers would be required to either blend in greater quantities of biofuels, purchase credits, or pay penalties.

On paper, the bill sets a target of reducing emissions by at least 10% below 2018 levels by 2030. It allows regulators to adopt standards that consider the full lifecycle of fuel emissions—from production to combustion to land-use impacts—but offers little clarity on how such complex factors would be reliably measured or enforced, Cota said. 

“Much like the Clean Heat Standard, the Clean Fuels Program could become another complicated and costly program that fails to deliver,” Cota said.

The Clean Heat Standard law (also receiving approval by White and most of Senate Democrats) would assess fees on the sale of fossil fuel-based heating fuel, and direct the proceeds to building low-carbon alternatives to heating homes, such as heat pumps and weatherization. Implementation has faltered due to concern about the added cost of heating homes with traditional fuels, and the cumbersome regulation required to implement it. 

S.171 was referred to Senate Natural Resources and Energy, chaired by fellow climate hawk Anne Watson (D-Washington) and with a 3-2 Democrat majority. Committee members and contact information: Watson, Terry Williams, Vice Chair, Ruth Hardy, Seth Bongartz, and Scott Beck.